NAHA – The Japan Coast Guard has searched a private high school in Kyoto Prefecture on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death following a fatal boat accident in Okinawa in March, the school operator said Tuesday.
The JCG’s 11th regional headquarters in Naha raided Doshisha International Senior High School in the city of Kyotanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, on Saturday.
In the March 16 accident, in which two small boats capsized during a field trip, Hajime Kanai, 71, the captain of one of the boats, and a 17-year-old female student of the school died. The bereaved family of the student has filed a criminal complaint against school officials, according to informed sources.
The school operator said in a statement that it takes the matter seriously and will fully cooperate with requests from authorities. It apologized for causing great concern and inconvenience to those involved.
The JCG will investigate the accident by analyzing documents seized in the search and other information.
The two boats were carrying 18 students visiting on a peace education trip and three crew members when they capsized off the Henoko coastal area of the Okinawa city of Nago, where construction to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in Ginowan, also Okinawa, is underway.
The 11th regional headquarters searched the office of the civic organization that operated the boats on March 20. The transport ministry filed a criminal complaint against Kanai in May on suspicion of violating the marine transportation law.
